Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index rose 1,507.16 points, up from Wednesday’s close at 106,926.39 points, while the banking and holding sector indexes increased by 2.54 and 2.21 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the transportation sector was the top performer — up 3.14 percent — while the wholesale and retail trade sector index suffered the biggest drop, losing 1.42 percent.

Stocks of private lender ICBC Turkey Bank (ICBCT) had the best performance of the day with a 9.84 percent rise, while automotive manufacturer Ford Otosan (FROTO) was the worst performer, with its stocks falling 2.36 percent.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate decreased to 3.6600 by 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Thursday, compared with 3.6790 at Wednesday’s close.

Borsa Istanbul’s Gold Exchange index increased by 0.43 percent, while the price of gold per kilogram reached 151,000 Turkish liras ($41,220) as of 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT) on Thursday, compared with 151,700 Turkish liras ($41,213) at the close on Wednesday.